His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers an extraordinary example of a life dedicated to peace, communication, and harmony. What he represents, and what he has accomplished, says his longtime friend Robert Thurman, transcends the current tensions between Tibet and China. Here Thurman explains why the Dalai Lama has earned the world's love and respect, and how restoring Tibet's autonomy within China is not only possible, but highly reasonable and necessary to the future of a global community. Thurman's portrait is an illuminating, provocative solution for a world in conflict, addressing fundamental human rights and freedoms.

"Tibetan scholar Thurman paints a splendid portrait of the Dalai Lama and masterfully elucidates the 50-year-old conflict between Tibet and China in this timely analysis.... Thurman sympathetically renders his lifelong friend as a simple Buddhist monk, a teacher, philosopher, scientist and the political representative of the Tibetan people, who has achieved renown for holding together a large refugee community and preserving its culture. Promulgating a common human religion of kindness, the Nobel Peace laureate lobbies for a peaceful resolution to the question of Tibetan autonomy within China, while espousing love, altruism and spirituality as the forces that will lead mankind into a kinder, happier twenty-first century. The book concludes with a five-step plan to broker peace between Tibet and China—an agenda simultaneously pragmatic and idealistic, demonstrating truly the talent and power of faith."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)